Grille construction



May 31, 1938. J. KARMAZIN GRILLE CONSTRUCTION Filed May 31, 1935 INVENTOR. J2 mv K; K #14 z m ATTORNEYS Patented May 31', 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,119,134 I GRILLE CONSTRUCTION JohniKarmazin, Huntington, Ind., assignor to General Motors Corporation, Dayton, Ohio, 2. corporation of Delaware "Application May 31, 1935, Serial No. 24,279 2 Claims. (c1. 98-114) This inventionrelates to refrigerating apparatus and more particularly to a grille construction for use with an air delivery opening for conditioned air. It is customary in the air conditioning art and in other arts where air is cir- This application is a continuation in part of Karmazin application Serial No. 697,756, filed November 13, 1933, entitled Grille, now Patent No. 2,032,365, patented MarchB, 1936.

- .It is object of the present invention to provide a grille construction which will not only be pleasing in appearance but willbe economical in first cost and which will provide a strong rigid grille structure in a very simple and economical manner.

A further object 'is to provide a grille having 5 a plurality of parallel fins provided with integral finned spacer means formed from the materia of thefins. I It is another object to provide a novel method of constructing such a grille.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing,,wherein a preferredform of the present invention is clearly shown.

In the drawing: Fig. i is a front view of a grille constructed according to the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary front view of the grille and illustrated on a larger scale;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of one fin of the grille;

Fig. 4 is an end view of the grille before the boundary frame is attached thereto;

Fig. 5 is a cross section on line 5-5 of Fig. 2; 45 Fig. 6 is a cross section corresponding to Fig.

5 showing a modified form of the invention; and

Fig. 7 is a cross sectiongtaken on the same plane as Fig. 6 and showing the grille structure before the welding operation is performed.

Referring now to Fig. 1, there is illustrated a grille of octagonal form comprising a plurality of parallel fins it! which are uniformly spaced. from each other by a plurality of spacers I2. The

grille is bounded by a frame ll of octagonal form. The fin spacers and frame are suitably bonded together in a manner later described to provide an integral unit of strong and rigid construction.

In the form of the invention shown in Figs. 2 to 5 inclusive, each fin is provided with a plurality of integral spacers I! which are formed by drawing, in a plurality of steps, a plurality of .tapered tubular projections from thematerial of the fins. The fin itself is given a transverse curvature in order to direct the air passing through the grille at an angle awayv from the perpendicular. The process of drawing out the pro jections l2 results in a narrowing of the fin at the portion thereof where each projection is drawn out so that the edge of the fin is neckedin at the points It. In order to provide continuous curvature to the fin extending along the necked-in portions l6 as well as along the wider portions intermediate the portions IS, the base of the projection I2 is formed with a step It which is substantially perpendicular to the axis of the projection l2 and joinsthe curved portion of the fin by shoulder portions 20 and 22 at opposite sides of the step Ill. The bottom of the tapered tubular projections I 2'-is left closed as at 2|. A plurality of identical fins having been formed in this manner, the fins are assembled together with the tapered projections 12 of one fin telescoped into the corresponding projections of the next adjacent fin as illustrated in Fig. 5.

Thus, stacked together, the assembled fins are pressed together to provide a close telescoping engagement between the projections l 2, and the bounding frame is assembled to this structure.

If the grille be of octagonal form as illustrated in Fig. 1, the assembled fins may be cut to octagonal form'after assembly and the frame member.

69 assembled around the same. The entire structure is then bonded by suitable bonding process. For example, the fins and the bounding frame it may be formed from copper coated steel stock and when the grille structure is assembled, the same may be bonded by placing the structure in a furnace having a controlled reducing atmosphere such as hydrogen where the temperature is raised to a point high enough to melt the copper coating and braze the fins together. Alternatively, the assembled grille structure may be made from any desired stock and given a solder or tin dip to bond the structure together or the structure may be bonded first by the copper brazing process above described, and then given a tin dip previously described, except that the bottoms of the tapered tubular projections 26 which correspond to the projections l2 in Fig. 3 are punched out at 28 so that the telescoped projections provide a continuous tube through the grille structure. A convenient method of bonding this form of the invention consists in placing a wire or strip 30 of bonding material such as copper within each tube formed by the projections 26 and placing the structure in a hydrogen furnace.

While it has been proposed heretofore to construct fin and tube heat exchange devices in a manner similar to that described in connection with the form of the invention illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7, it will be understood that the present invention provides a structure which has no function as a heat exchange device. Preferably, the fins may be of the order of one-half inch in width and the tapered tubular projections of the order of one-fourth inch in diameter. These proportions have been found to provide a grille which gives ample deflection of the air passing therethrough, and provides a structure sufilciently strong to be used with openings of the largest size normally encountered in commercial practice.

While the form of embodiment of the present through the grille into a plurality of segregated streams, each of said fin elements having a portion adjacent said projections pressed to surround the projections and extend perpendicular to the axis thereof for increasing the structural strength or the grille intermediate its bounding frame, each of the fin elements also having a curved portion extending outwardly away from the pressed portion thereof on each side of the grille, and the curved portion of the fin elements extending substantially continuously throughout the length of each element and parallel to the curved portion of adjacent fin elements to direct the flow of fluid through the grille.

2. A grille comprising a plurality of fin elements bounded by a frame member, said fin elementshaving tapered tubular projections extending therefrom, said tapered tubular projections being telescoped into adjacent tapered tubular projections and secured thereto, said fin elements being uniformly spaced apart by said projections and dividing a fluid stream adapted to pass through the grille into a plurality of segregated streams, each 01' said fin elements having a portion adjacent said tapered tubular projections pressed to surround the projections and extend perpendicular to the axis thereof for increasing the structural strength of the grille intermediate its bounding frame, each of the fin elements also having a curved portion extending outwardly away from the pressed portion thereof on each side of the grille, and the curved portion of the fin elements extending substantially continuously throughout the length of each element and parallel to the curved portion of adjacent fin elements to direct the flow of fluid through the grille.

JOHN KARMAZIN. 

